Freaking out - 2 kids in daycare and a PAY FREEZE?

[Anonymous]

Um- are all of the government workers who are posting that they are pissed OFF today, or are they posting while they are "working?"

[Anonymous]

I love how ALL the government workers posting here - each and every one of them - could get a HUGE salary increase by simply snapping their fingers and decamping to the private sector. You know, by getting jobs at those companies that aren't hiring, and are also freezing salaries, have inferior benefits, perhaps even cutting salaries and laying people off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just wait until the deficit reduction commission report on wed. then you'll see some real cuts. Of course, political division in washington means nothing of significance will happen.

I really wish we'd means-test Social Security and curb Medicare spending. It's really sick that people over 65 get such huge entitlement programs. So many working families are struggling, really suffering to make ends meet...

My parents paid into the SS system and it is not entitlement and I don't begrudge any one the SS for which they worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, if you think deflation is a problem, then freezing federal employee pay is only going to make it worse. (And we all know that around here, preschool tuitions, daycare costs, housing costs, are only going up, so it's a meaningless distinction.)
I don't really mind the pay freeze per se. But I mind the rhetoric about it and the way it was done. But telling us we're overpaid is just politically throwing us under the bus, and it's stupid.
I'm a government lawyer, and I could make easily 3 times what I make if I were private sector. That's a sacrifice I've already made. And I don't work 40 hour weeks. My husband (also a govt lawyer) works more like 90 hour weeks, and I work about 50-60. Of course, we get no overtime pay -- pay is the same regardless.
Also, the calculation of how much money it will save -- I wonder if that accounts for the lost income tax revenue? After all, if you ain't paying it to me, you ain't taxing me on it either.

News flash. Lawyers in the private sector aren't paid overtime. You and your husband made your choice and if you turned down jobs where you charge $500.00/hr for the security of the Fed. govt., remember it was your choice so stop being so noble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:14, when do you see your husband? 90 hour weeks is 13 hours a day every day. WTF job requires this type of commitment? And if you work 60 hour weeks, what do your kids do? How do you afford all the childcare you must need?

It is called "gross exaggeration."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:14, when do you see your husband? 90 hour weeks is 13 hours a day every day. WTF job requires this type of commitment? And if you work 60 hour weeks, what do your kids do? How do you afford all the childcare you must need?

It is called "gross exaggeration."

No, it's pretty typical at a lot of law firms. I also have friends in sales who may not put in as many actual hours per day but they are on the road all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:14, when do you see your husband? 90 hour weeks is 13 hours a day every day. WTF job requires this type of commitment? And if you work 60 hour weeks, what do your kids do? How do you afford all the childcare you must need?

It is called "gross exaggeration."

No, it's pretty typical at a lot of law firms. I also have friends in sales who may not put in as many actual hours per day but they are on the road all the time.

Bullshit. I work sweatshop hours at a sweatshop law firm and 90 hour weeks are not "typical." Besides, the poster claiming that her husband works 90 hours a week says he is a government lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:14, when do you see your husband? 90 hour weeks is 13 hours a day every day. WTF job requires this type of commitment? And if you work 60 hour weeks, what do your kids do? How do you afford all the childcare you must need?

I'm 11:14 -- Yup, it pretty much sucks! My husband goes to work at a normal hour (arrives by 9), works at the office until 10pm, comes home, eats and chills for an hour, then often goes back on remotely and works half the night. Night before Thanksgiving he slept at the office for 4 hours -- didn't come home until 10am Thanksgiving Day. It's not always like that, but has been like that for him for most of this year. We're trial lawyers, so if there's litigation, you're in it pretty much every waking hour of the day (and some that should not be waking hours). He sees our daughter between 6-730am most weekdays, and on the weekends. We hate it.
I don't work 50-60 hours anymore (since we had our daughter, who's 1.5 years old). I worked 50-60 hours/week most of the time when I was supposedly 40 hours/week. Now I'm "part time" which is in theory 32 hours per week (so i get paid 4/5 of the total salary i used to get). In reality, I work more like 40 hours/week now. That's pretty standard for "part time" lawyers, I think.
This is why we will probably advise our kids (I'm pg with another) not to be lawyers.

Ok, got it...so you were overexaggerating.

No sympathy though, you two chose this path and there are other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um- are all of the government workers who are posting that they are pissed OFF today, or are they posting while they are "working?"

Yes. This type of jacking around is why they all have to work all the unpaid overtime they are boo hooing about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um- are all of the government workers who are posting that they are pissed OFF today, or are they posting while they are "working?"

Yes. This type of jacking around is why they all have to work all the unpaid overtime they are boo hooing about.

Uh, this thread is 5 pages long, and has more posters who are not federal employees than it has feds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um- are all of the government workers who are posting that they are pissed OFF today, or are they posting while they are "working?"

Yes. This type of jacking around is why they all have to work all the unpaid overtime they are boo hooing about.

Uh, this thread is 5 pages long, and has more posters who are not federal employees than it has feds.

Uhhhhh, there are FOUR f-ing threads on this topic, one of which is TWENTY pages long and was started by a fed during "work" hours.

[Anonymous]

Fed lawyer here, one in downtown daycare and one on the way, and if Obama wants my COLA he can have the fricking thing. The 1.9% increase works out to about $25/check for me after taxes.

[Anonymous]

If you can't live with the pay freeze you can always quit and find another job.

[Anonymous]

For the wifey of the gov't lawyer who works 90 hours a week: honey, your husband is having an affair and has somehow convinced you that he is working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:www.hallabolou.com

[e-mail]

Check it out... great program for Preschool children

I am confused as to what relevance this holds to the topic of discussion..